Thursday, September 6, 2012

The Pythagorean "3" in Egypt and Lao Tzu

The universal subtle essence gave birth to One.One gave birth to Two.Two gave birth to Three.Three gave birth to the Myriad Things.All lives have their backs to the yin and embrace the yang.There is nothing more loathed by people than to be orphaned, desolate, and hapless.Yet the wise ancient kings, princes, and barons used such titles to refer to themselves.A thing is sometimes benefitted by being humbled, and diminished by being expanded.What the ancients have taught, I also shall teach: "A man of force and violence will come to a violent end."Whoever said this can be my teacher and father.

There are clear parallels here to the teachings of the Pythagoreans. In Serpent in the Sky, John Anthony West points out:

Ancient sources claimed Egypt as the original home of geometry. Though biographies of Pythagoras were all fragmentary, secondhand and therefore unreliable, all agreed upon this point: that Pythagoras had acquired much of his learning in the East. 33.

In the ancient text Life of Pythagoras by Iamblichus (c. AD 245 - c. AD 325), written some eight hundred years after the probable time of Pythagoras, we read that the aged philosopher Thales of Miletus (c. 624 BC - c. 546 BC) taught the young Pythagoras all that he could, and then urged him to sail to Egypt to consult the priests there. At the end of Chapter II in the translation of Iamblichus by Thomas Taylor (1758 - 1835), we read:

Indeed, after Thales had gladly admitted him to his intimate confidence, he admired the difference between him and other young men, whom Pythagoras left far behind in every accomplishment. And besides this, Thales increased the reputation Pythagoras had already acquired, by communicating to him such disciplines as he was able to impart: and, apologizing for his old age, and the imbecility of his body, he exhorted him to sail into Egypt, and associate with the Memphian and the Diospolitan priests. For he confessed that his own reputation for wisdom, was derived from the instructions of these priests; but that he was neither naturally, nor by exercise, endued with those excellent prerogatives, which were so visibly displayed in the person of Pythagoras. Thales, therefore, gladly announced to him, from all these circumstances, that he would become the wisest and most divine of all men, if he associated with these Egyptian priests. 6.

We have already seen some evidence that the wisdom of ancient Egypt may have been preserved in places further to the east, including India, Tibet, and China -- or, alternately, that the wisdom of Egypt may have shared a common legacy with the wisdom preserved in those other ancient traditions (possibly the legacy of a common unknown predecessor culture). See more interesting lore on the life of Pythagoras here.

In the post immediately preceding this one, we saw that R.A. Schwaller de Lubicz believed that the concept of a "Primordial Scission" was central to ancient Egyptian understanding of the nature of the universe and of human existence. John Anthony West explains that "What is today called Pythagorean number mysticism is Egyptian in origin (if not older still) and corresponds to the underlying philosophy behind all the arts and sciences of Egypt" (44). In his discussion of the Pythagorean-Egyptian concept of the number Three, Mr. West writes:

One, in becoming Two, becomes Three simultaneously. The 'becoming' is the third force, automatically providing the innate and necessary (and mysterious) reconciling principle. [. . .] Male / female is not a relationship. For there to be relationship there must be 'love' or at least 'desire.' A sculptor and a block of wood will not produce a statue. The sculptor must have 'inspiration.' [. . .] The heart, not the head, understands Three. (By 'heart' I mean the complex of human emotional facilities). 'Understanding' is an emotional more than an intellectual function, and it is practically a synonym for reconciliation, for relationship. The more one understands, the more he or she is able to reconcile, and relate. The more one understands, the more one reconciles seeming incongruities and inconsistencies. It is possible to know a great deal and understand very little.

So, while we cannot measure or know Three directly, we experience it everywhere. From common everyday experience, we can project and recognise the metaphysical role of Three; we can see why trinities are universal to the mythologies of the world. Three is the 'Word,' the 'Holy Ghost,' the Absolute conscious of itself. Man does not directly experience the Absolute or unity or the Primordial Scission. But the famous mystical experience, union with God, is, I believe, the direct experience of that aspect of the Absolute that is consciousness. 47-48.

Having considered all this, it is intriguing to re-read chapter 章 42 of the Tao Teh Ching:

The universal subtle essence gave birth to One.One gave birth to Two.Two gave birth to Three.Three gave birth to the Myriad Things.All lives have their backs to the yin and embrace the yang.